


Master Plans and Calculus Crams

by lefticurse



Category: Bandom, Cobra Starship, Panic! at the Disco, The Academy Is...
Genre: Alternate Universe - High School, Fluff, M/M, Underage Drinking
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-09-16
Updated: 2016-09-16
Packaged: 2018-08-15 09:50:16
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,027
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8051695
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lefticurse/pseuds/lefticurse
Summary: So, Bill decides to craft a Master Plan™ to win his best friend back (and possibly make that best friend fall in love with him. Definitely.).Okay, it’s more of a Shitty Plan™, and he thinks that it definitely won’t end well.





	Master Plans and Calculus Crams

It’s all Brendon’s fault.

Honestly though. Gabe is _Bill’s_ best friend. Bill doesn’t like how Brendon sops up all of Gabe’s attention and affection like some sort of depraved, dehydrated sponge.

Bill likes Brendon, don’t get him wrong. All things considered, it’s kind of hard not to - Brendon’s sweet and funny and whatever - but goddammit, Brendon needs to get his own source of attention-liquid.

Bill thinks and decides that this metaphor took a strange turn and opts to abandon it, but his feelings are still the same.

He’s not sure if he thinks Brendon and Gabe have a _thing_ , or something, and he’s too scared to ask. He thinks Gabe would have told him, but he’s also afraid that Gabe just completely forgot about him because of Brendon.

Okay, he might be exaggerating slightly. It’s not like Gabe spends _no_ time with Bill. They still talk daily. It’s just that Bill feels like it’s not enough. Although, if Bill was being perfectly truthful and was able to ignore the sappy disgustingness of it, no time is really enough time spent with Gabe.

So, Bill decides to craft a Master Plan™ to win his best friend back (and possibly make that best friend fall in love with him. Definitely.).

Okay, it’s more of a Shitty Plan™, and he thinks that it definitely won’t end well.

But William doesn’t care, because if he has to see Brendon wrap his arms around Gabe’s torso or Gabe lean down to whisper (what he’s sure are Spanish sweet nothings) in Brendon’s ear, he is going to lose it.

He sees Gabe at his locker, without Brendon, for once. He decides to take this chance to put his plan into action.

“Gabe,” William says, “You should do me a favor.”

“Hey Bill. What do you want?” He asks. William smiles his famous half-smile in what he hopes is a charming manner.

“I’m shit at Calculus.”

“Right.” Gabe responds slowly. “So?” William rolls his eyes.

“So, idiot, can you tutor me? Because you took it last year. And you got an A, right?”

“Yeah, a 96.” Gabe says proudly. William resists the urge to call him a giant nerd. He needs to win Gabe over, not bully him.

“So will you tutor me? Please?” William tries to bat his eyelashes. Gabe laughs.

“Bill, don’t strain yourself. Obviously I will.” William bites back some smartass remark about Gabe not having enough time because of _Precious Brendon_.

“Okay. When? I have a test next week. Can we do, like, Thursday, Friday, and Monday? After school?” He says instead.

“Really? That often?”

“I’m, um, _really_ bad at math.”

“Sure, Bilvy.” Gabe says. “I’m always happy to help my peers get their shit together.” Bill laughs at that and lets his head fall for a second on Gabe’s shoulder, before he lifts it. The bell rings.

“Shit, I have it now.” He makes a face, and Gabe snickers at him. 

“Have fun!” He calls as he turns away. He immediately walks to Brendon, who averts his attention from Ryan. William looks at Ryan and realizes that they are wearing matching scowls. They catch each other's eyes and smile sympathetically at each other before William walks as slowly as he can to Calculus.

 

**THURSDAY:**

 

Gabe meets William at his locker on Thursday.

“Hey, Billiam.” He says, casually hooking his arm around his shoulder. William figures it’s okay to lean into the touch a little - Gabe initiated it. 

It’s kind of uncomfortable, if he’s being honest. The way Gabe is holding him, their bodies kind of bump together awkwardly, and William is mostly made of long limbs that he is afraid will somehow get tangled up with Gabe’s. He thinks there may be some sort of logical flaw to that concern, but he is still worried.

But it’s nice, because he gets to feel Gabe’s heat through his shirt, and he can smell Gabe if he takes completely inconspicuous deep breaths. He makes the noble sacrifice of casual comfort, because regardless of this, Bill still thinks that they fit together well, and Bill likes the feeling of being pressed up against Gabe.

They walk out together, where they promptly run into Brendon and Ryan. Brendon gives Bill a death stare, and Gabe quickly retracts his arm. Bill loves Brendon and everything, but he kind of wants to strangle him at the moment. William reminds himself that murder is, in fact, illegal.

“Hey,” Gabe says. They return the greeting.

“Guys,” Brendon talks animatedly. “Where are you going? You guys should come to mine with us. We were going to play Monopoly.”

Ryan looks at Bill pleadingly, and he gets it.

“No,” he says quickly. “Gabe’s tutoring me, and I’d rather not fail.”

“Oh,” Brendon says. He cocks his head. “Okay.” He shoots Gabe a look that clearly means ‘ _We will talk later.’_ Bill tries to ignore the familiar twist of jealousy in his gut. “Bye, then. Let’s go, Ry!” He says, bounding away. Ryan looks after him with a sigh and follows.

Gabe and William keep walking, but there is now some space between them. Bill doesn’t like it. He makes a mental note to find the courage to ask about Brendon. He will, someday, he tells himself.

 

~

 

“Okay?” Gabe asks, at William’s house. They’d been studying for a while. “Do you get it? Because tangent-“

“Fuck me.” Bill whines before he can rethink the wording. “This is so fucking _boring_. Can we take a break? Let’s watch a movie.”

“No.” Gabe says. “C’mon, it’s not that boring.” Bill ponders this. Technically, he doesn’t actually think it’s _that_ boring either.

When Gabe talks about stupid math shit, Bill can stare all he wants (“What? No, dumbass, I’m not staring. I’m just a _good_ _listener_.”) and he notices the curve of Gabe’s cheekbones and his long eyelashes and his soft-looking hair and the way he tugs at his ear when he concentrates.

It’s really not a boring view at all.

And although Bill doesn’t think he’ll ever get tired of it, he thinks maybe he should work on wooing him a little more. Staring won’t do anything besides creep him out (although what does Gabe know? William is actually an _incredibly_ great listener).

William leans back in his chair, stretching his arms above his head. His shirt rides up (because apparently he is incapable of finding a shirt that fits him properly) and he sees Gabe look at the strip of exposed skin for a second. Gabe looks up at William’s face.

“Maybe a little break.” Gabe says with a small smile, looking intently at Bill’s face. William has the urge to lean in, but Gabe shifts his gaze quickly. “What are we going to do? You only get one of these breaks per session, I’m afraid. Better use it wisely.” William pouts.

“Wanna play Uno?” He asks, then winces. Uno? He’s good at Uno and all, but it’s not like Gabe will be seduced by Bill’s mad Uno playing skills. He should’ve suggested something hotter, like a drinking game or strip poker or something.

“Uno it is!” Gabe says, his face lighting up.

Bill suddenly thinks that anything that can make Gabe’s face look like _that_ couldn’t have been such a bad idea.

 

**FRIDAY:**

 

“I hate math.” Bill moans, back at his house again. “Fuck the unit circle. Fucking sine and cosine can rot _in hell_.”

“A bit melodramatic, don’t you think?” Gabe asks with a chuckle.

“I don’t care.”

“Just, do this practice problem.” Gabe says. Bill stares at it and picks up his pencil and starts to solve it for thirty entire seconds.

“I’m tired.” Bill declares after the allotted Quiet Time.

“Do you ever stop complaining?”

“Fuck you,” Bill says, but the venom behind the statement is lost when he yawns. He leans his head gently on Gabe’s shoulder and rests his eyes. He feels Gabe absentmindedly play with his hair, and he smiles a little.

It’s nice. 

Then he remembers Brendon, and the momentary peace is lost. He contemplates asking for a little while, and then just goes for it.

“Gabanti,” He starts. “You would tell me if you were dating someone, right?” He asks, trying to be vague.

“Um, yeah,” Gabe says, looking sideways at him. “Why? Are _you_ dating someone?” He says, his voice suddenly a bit higher than normal. Bill thinks that this was a weird conclusion Gabe drew from the question Bill asked, but he answers anyway.

“No, of course not. I was just wondering about you.” William says calmly. He does not shake Gabe and ask him what the hell was going on between him and Brendon, despite how much he wants to. He lifts his head and sees Gabe’s frown.

“What’s going on, Guillermo?” Gabe asks, softly. He reaches over and plays with William’s hair again, because he knows it calms him.

Gabe does not know that it is only calming when _he_ does it - when other people do it, it’s just weird and annoying.

“Nothing.” Bill answers. “I was just making sure.”

“Of course I’d tell you. You’re my best friend.” Gabe says, and Bill feels his smile break a little.

“Yeah.” He says. “I am.”

 

**SATURDAY:**

 

It’s a Saturday, and Bill is at a party at the Butcher’s house. He is drunk. He is definitely, definitely drunk.

He’s with Sisky and Nate and Ryland and Vicky T, and he would rather be with Gabe, but he thinks Gabe might be somewhere with Brendon, and he’d rather not know.

Ryan slinks up near him at some point, and Ryan is leaning against him, probably because he can’t stand up on his own. He collapses into an arm chair, pulling Bill as he goes down, which causes Bill to fall in his lap. Ryan laughs and William laughs.

“You know what you need?” Ryan slurs into William’s ear once they’re done laughing. It’s not the right voice, and it’s not the right language, but he’s starting to think it will never be.

“What?” Bill asks.

“You need to make out with someone. Right now. Someone who isn’t _Gabe_ , just to get your mind off things a little. Distractions are good, Bilvy.” Ryan announces, his words slipping together unclearly. If Bill was sober, he would’ve flinched at the nickname - only one person can call him that, and that person is Jewish and vegetarian and probably flitting off with a weirdly energetic ex-Mormon.

And besides, William doesn’t really think that’s what he needs. He thinks he needs a bath, probably. And some french fries. And a nap. But he is drunk and horny and lonely and he leans down and kisses Ryan squarely on the lips. They kiss passionately, if not sloppily, for about six seconds before they separate. They stare at each other and laugh.

“I don’t want to do that ever again.” Bill mumbles, leaning near Ryan’s face to make sure he hears. Ryan nods his agreement. Bill looks up and sees Gabe, staring at them from a couple feet away and looking completely shell-shocked. Brendon is not with him. Bill scrambles off Ryan’s lap and reaches Gabe.

“Gabey baby!” He shouts. 

“H-hey, Bill.” Gabe says, softly. “So you and Ryan -“

“Not even a little bit!” William interrupts enthusiastically. “Let’s go get drinks!”

“I think you’ve had enough.” Gabe says, and takes his hand to pull him upstairs.

“Where’ve you been, Gabanti?” Bill asks once they’re in an empty room.

“Nowhere. I just got here.”

“What are we doing here? You should be getting drinks! Lots and lots of drinks! I should also be getting drinks. Things are better with drinks!”

“No, Bill. You’re going to sleep.” Bill hooks his arms around Gabe’s neck.

“I don’t wanna.”

“Well, you’re going to.” Gabe’s voice is surprisingly hard. William’s drunken smile falters a little. What’s wrong with Gabe?

“Gabe - “

“Stay here. Go to fucking sleep.” Gabe takes a deep breath and draws patterns on the back of Bill’s hand that he’s still holding. “I’ll be back to check on you, soon, okay?” Gabe says, more gently. He drops William’s hand and William tries not to miss the touch. He nods and snuggles under the covers. He closes his eyes and he thinks he feels something against his forehead before it’s gone.

Bill falls asleep.

**SUNDAY:**

 

“Bill, wake up. Your mom’s going to fucking kill you if you don’t.” William groggily opens his eyes to see Gabe.

“Gabe?”

“No shit. C’mon, it’s already nine. You need to go home.” William nods.

“Fuck.” William mutters. His head is pounding. Gabe hands him some pills and points to a glass of water on the bedside table. Bill is too hungover to really wonder where Gabe got them - did he steal them from the Butcher? He just takes them hastily.

“Now hurry. I’ll drive you home.”

 

~

 

Gabe’s knuckles are white from gripping the steering wheel too tightly. William contemplates asking him what’s wrong, but feels like it has something to do with him somehow. But after Gabe makes a ridiculously sudden stop for the third time, Bill speaks up.

“What’s wrong, Gabanti?” He asks. Gabe tenses.

“How much do you remember from yesterday?” Gabe asks, instead of answering.

“Um, not much? I got drunk.” Gabe rolls his eyes.

“That much is clear.”

“Why? Did I do something? Shit, Gabe, did I do something to you?” William is suddenly worried that he confessed or tried to kiss Gabe or something.

“No.” Gabe answers curtly, and William can’t tell if he is lying.

“Really?”

“Yes.”

“Then why are you so upset? What happened?” Bill is more confused than anything now.

“Why don’t you ask,” Bill sees Gabe’s jaw set, “fucking Ryan Ross?” With that, he parks the car and ushers a speechless William to the door. He leaves then, leaving William to unlock the door and walk inside, still unsure of what just happened.

 

~

 

“Hey, Ryan.” Bill says to Ryan’s voicemail. “What happened last night? Gabe is mad for some reason, and when I asked why he said to ask you. And yeah. This is Bill, by the way. Pick up your phone.” He sighs and hangs up.

He hasn’t talked to Gabe since Gabe drove him home - like six hours ago.

Bill feels weird. He rarely doesn’t talk to Gabe for such a long period of time, besides when they’re sleeping. He’s been leaving Ryan voicemails every hour on the dot, and Ryan has yet to pick up. He had assumed Ryan is sleeping off his hangover, but it’s mid-afternoon already and Ryan needs to stop being a lazy asshole.

“What the fuck,” he groans out loud. He hates it when Gabe’s mad at him. It doesn’t happen often, but when it does, it sucks.

He tries to remember what happened on his own. He has vague memories of Vicky T handing him drink after drink and Sisky talking about some girl, or something. He also thinks he remembers sitting on someone’s lap.

None of that explains Gabe’s anger though.

Gabe doesn’t even get mad that easily. What the _hell_ did he do? Bill decides to forget waiting another hour and calls Ryan again. This time, he picks up.

“Hello?” He asks.

“Finally!” Bill says. “What the fuck, dude? I’ve been calling you all day.”

“Yeah, I see that.” Ryan answers. “I was, uh, busy.” William can hear some faint giggling in the background. It sounds familiar.

“Is that Brendon? Were you ignoring my calls because you were just fucking around with him? You better have a better excuse than that.” Ryan laughs.

“I wasn’t fucking around with Brendon,” he reassures. “I was just _fucking_ him.” William hears Brendon protest and shout Ryan’s name in indignation.

“ _What_?” Bill asks, momentarily pushing aside his issues. “Um, _what_? How the fuck did _that_ happen?”

“Okay, you know how we kissed yesterday?”

“We kissed?”

“Um, yeah. You don’t remember?”

“No,” Bill answers, thinking. Is that what Gabe was talking about? But why would Gabe even care?

“Oh. Well, we did. Brendon saw, and like the overdramatic idiot he is - ” Bill hears Brendon protest again, “- came over to me in a fit of drunken rage and, like, kissed the shit out of me. It was pretty awesome.”

“Oh.” Bill answers. “That’s great.” He pauses. “So, um, Gabe and Brendon isn’t a thing?”

“No. I don't think it ever was.”

“Oh.” Bill says again, a little relieved, but mostly perplexed.

“So, uh, sorry. Why were you calling me again?”

“Oh yeah. Gabe’s mad at me and I didn’t know why and I asked him what happened at the party and he said to ask you? And he doesn’t really get angry that often, so I must’ve done _something_ , you know? So what’d I do, do you know?” Bill rambles.

“Hm,” Ryan thinks to himself. “I don’t know. All we did was talk and kiss, like, once.”

“Then why was Gabe so pissed off?” Bill wonders out loud. He tries not to get his hopes up. Gabe was _not_ jealous, like Brendon was. That’s not that plausible.

“I don’t know.”

“Thanks, Ry. You’re being incredibly helpful.”

“Fuck off, Bill. I’m still on a high from all those orgasms.” Brendon shrieks in the background.

“I definitely would’ve been happier not knowing that, thanks.”

“Just talk to him, dude. Maybe he was just in a bad mood?”

“Gabe doesn’t take that shit out on people.”

“Yeah, he does.” Ryan pauses, as if relieving a painful memory. “One time he accidentally stepped on a snail and he was so distraught that he threw the shoe _at my head_. I didn’t even do anything.”

“Yeah, and one time he dropped his hoodie in the mud and didn’t talk to me for the next two hours.” Brendon adds. Bill wasn’t even aware Brendon could hear this conversation.

“I don’t know. He’s never really been mad at me, at least not like this.”

“Maybe,” Brendon chimes in. “that’s because it’s _you_ , Bill.” Bill reflects on this.

“What, is it hard to stay mad at me or something?” Brendon sighs.

“No. You’re kind of a piece of shit at times, you know?” Ryan says.

“That’s not what I meant, Bill.” Brendon says. “I think it’s just hard for _Gabe_ to stay mad at you.” Before Bill can respond, he hears muffled noises on Ryan and Brendon’s end.

“Uh, I have to go. Something’s, uh, come up.” Brendon laughs in the background, and the line goes dead.

William’s not sure what just happened.

Ryan’s right though, he should just talk it over with Gabe. They’re best friends, after all.

 

**MONDAY:**

 

William goes to school on Monday, ready to talk to Gabe.

Unfortunately, as Bill realizes after third period, Gabe skipped school today, which is not helpful.

He asks Ryan (and by extension, Brendon, who has been stuck to his hip the entire day) what he should do after school.

“Go to his fucking house, man. Communication is important.” Ryan says, as Brendon hugs his body.

“I just - I wished I knew for sure why he was mad at me.”

“Oh,” Brendon pipes up, his arms still around Ryan. “I know why.”

“What?” Bill says. “Why the hell didn’t you tell me earlier?”

“I didn’t think it was my place, dude. And I didn’t know if you even liked him back - “

“Back?” Bill asks, his heart pounding.

“Oh, um, shit.” Brendon stutters. “Don’t tell him I said anything, please?”

“No promises.” Bill is grinning. He feels butterflies - man, those assholes - in his stomach. “I think I have to go talk to him.” He decides. He waves goodbye to the newlyweds and runs all the way to Gabe’s house. Well, if he’s being honest, he runs half the way, and then starts walking because Gabe’s house is kind of far, and Bill is not known for his athletics.

Bill eventually walks up to Gabe’s door and rings the doorbell.

“Hey, Gabe.” He says, when it opens and he sees Gabe’s confused expression. “I’m here for tutoring. Let me in?”

“Um -“ Gabe hesitates for a second before stepping back and opening the door wider. “Okay.” Bill twirls his lanyard in his fingers in what he hopes is a nonchalant manner. They’re quiet for a second as Bill walks in. “Listen, Bill. I’m sorry I was a dick. It wasn’t - “

“So,” William interrupts. “I asked Ryan.”

“…What?”

“I asked him what happened on Saturday. And why you were so mad.” William says casually.

“Oh.”

“Yeah, he said that we, me and Ryan, kissed.”

“Yeah.”

“But then,” Bill moves closer to Gabe, who takes a step back, into the wall. “I was thinking. Why would Gabe be mad about that? And I talked to Brendon, and…” William trails off and moves closer again. This time Gabe stays still because there is nowhere to go. He’s looking down at his feet in what Bill thinks is embarrassment.

“Yeah, um, Bill. Um - “

“Gabe,” Bill says, and Gabe looks up. He sees William right in front of him, his face inches away. “Shut up.” And then William kisses him. 

It takes Gabe a second to kiss back, but when he does, he feels Bill smile against his lips. They kiss for a while, and Bill tugs his arm in the direction of upstairs.

Gabe thinks that’s kind of funny - this is _his_ house _-_ but he’s too busy trying to continue kissing William to laugh. He follows Bill into his room, where they collapse on the bed. They kiss some more, and William’s hands slide experimentally everywhere. He wants to touch all of Gabe. When they stop some time later (they have no idea how long. Five minutes? A year?), Bill rolls off of Gabe, who laughs and keeps his arm around Bill, holding him close.

“Wow.” Gabe says. “That was, uh, unexpected?”

“Yeah.” Bill replies. “Nice though, right?”

“Yeah. It really was.” Gabe answers. He grabs Bill’s hand because he can. “So, um,” he says, somewhat awkwardly after a couple minutes of silence, “should we get back to the tutoring?” Bill chuckles.

“Yeah, about that.” Bill says. “I have a confession.” Gabe raises his eyebrow. “I may or may not have a 92 in Calculus right now.”

“What?” Gabe asks. “I thought you were shit?”

“I lied. I just wanted an excuse to hang out alone with you.”

“Why would you ever need an excuse?”

“I don’t know. Because you were spending all your time with Brendon and - “

“Wait,” Gabe says, eyes widening. “Were you jealous of _Brendon_?” He asks. Bill doesn’t answer and ducks his head, avoiding eye contact. Gabe bursts out laughing. “You _were_? Holy shit.” He is still laughing. Bill wonders if he should politely wait for Gabe to stop rudely guffawing in his face or not. He thinks not.

“What’s so funny?” He asks, while Gabe is still giggling.

“It’s just - I mean, you know what we talked about all the time?”

“What?”

“We moped about the woes of having hopeless crushes on certain boys,” He smiles pointedly at Bill, “who would never like us back.” Bill feels sheepish.

“But what about that time he saw us and your arm was around my shoulder and he glared at me?” He suddenly remembers. He tries not to sound accusing.

“What?” He pauses, thinking. “ _Oh._ That wasn’t directed at you. It was directed at me. _That’s_ because we promised each other we would back off and stop putting on the moves.” Gabe answers.

“Oh,” is all Bill says.

“Yeah, we were bonding over unrequited love, dude. It made us like, best friends.” Bill punches Gabe in the shoulder for that.

“Hey!” Bill protests. “I’m your best friend.”

“No,” Gabe says, booping William’s nose. “You’re my _boyfriend_.” Gabe’s tone is sickly sweet and William can’t tell if he is melting or if he is suddenly nauseous.

“Shut up, dick.” He answers, and Gabe laughs.

“I’m trying to be cute and romantic.” Gabe answers.

“You don’t have to try.” William answers in a similar, gross voice. Gabe feigns gagging.

“Stop.” He says, waving his arm in front of Bill’s face. “Let’s stop this, and make out more.” He suggests.

Well, Bill thinks. That’s one Master Plan he can’t argue with.


End file.
